Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Monday 4 October 1999

Scottish Executive

Arts

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is its projected funding for the Scottish Arts Council for the next three years.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Government funding to the Scottish Arts Council in 1999-2000 and projected funding for the following two years (the latest for which figures are available) are contained in the attached table.

  


Year 


1999-2000 

  


2000-01 

  


2001-02 

  




Actual* and Projected Funding 

  

£28,077,000* 

  

£29,577,000 

  

£30,977,000

Education

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in each year group in each local authority are enrolled in classes of more than thirty for the academic year 1999-2000.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The information requested will not be available until after the school census for the 1999-2000 academic year has been completed. The census was carried out in September and the results published early in 2000.

Education

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the cost of extending free school meal provision to all school-aged children in Scotland whose parents receive the new tax credits.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Working Families Tax Credit already contains an element designed to cover the cost of school meals hence no estimate has been made.

Education

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of how many children are eligible to receive free school meals at the present time, and how many would be eligible if entitlement was extended to include all those children whose parents are in receipt of new working families tax credit.

Mr Sam Galbraith: 153,177 pupils in Scotland were entitled to receive free school meals in 1997-98 at a cost of £52.3 million.

  I refer to my answer as given in Written Answer S1W-1601.

Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been made to allow non-governmental organisations to present their perspective at the ‘Environment and Sustainable Development’ day during ‘Scotland Week’ in Brussels.

Sarah Boyack: Invitations have been sent to several non-governmental organisations to attend the event in Scotland House.

Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the management arrangements for collecting the Council Tax and administering rebates within East Ayrshire Council.

Mr Jack McConnell: No. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies, but we, of course, continue to encourage best practice in all management arrangements.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when an announcement will be made on the introduction of a new definition of "tolerable standard" for housing as recommended in the consultation paper Beyond the Tolerable Standard .

Ms Wendy Alexander: I expect to announce our intentions on changes to the Tolerable Standard before the end of the year.

Maritime Safety

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty’s Government regarding the technical difficulties being experienced with the new ADAS 2000 computer system planned for HM Coastguard in Scotland, with a view to ensuring that the new system will be in full working order from the date of installation and that HM Coastguard in Scotland remains fully operational and capable of delivering the required level of service at all times.

Sarah Boyack: Maritime safety and the responsibilities of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are matters reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Executive maintains contact with the UK Government on the Agency’s policy and strategy in Scotland and where operational issues relate to devolved responsibilities. Technical and operational computer matters are for the MCA but the questions raised have been drawn to the Agency’s attention by the Scottish Executive.

National Lottery

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, given that the National Lottery is a reserved matter, the Parliament has any statutory right to be consulted in relation to decisions taken on applications for Scotland by the New Opportunities Fund.

Rhona Brankin: Arrangements are in place for Scottish Ministers to be consulted about initiatives in Scotland. However, decisions on applications are for the Lottery distributors, of which the New Opportunities Fund is one, and there is no statutory right for either the Westminster or Scottish Parliaments to be consulted on decisions taken on applications by any of the Lottery distributors.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all appointments to Non-Departmental Public Bodies, by Body, which it has made since 6 May 1999.

Mr Jack McConnell: Details of all appointments made to Non-Departmental Public Bodies since 6 May 1999, are as follows:

  


Body  


Appointments 


Re-appointments 


Total 




Executive NDPBs




Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Scottish Arts Council  

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Scottish Conveyancing and
Executry Services Board 

  
 

3 

  

3 

  



Scottish Higher Education 
Funding Council 

  

3 

  

1 

  

4 

  



Scottish Homes  

  

2 

  

2 

  

4 

  



Sport Scotland 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Advisory NDPBs




Central Advisory Committee on Justices 

  of the Peace (Scotland) 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Justice of the Peace Advisory Committee 

  (32) 

  

4 

  
 

4 

  



Scottish Advisory Committee on 

  the Medical Workforce 

  

5 

  
 

5 

  



Scottish Records Advisory 
Council 

  

4 

  
 

4 

  



Public Corporations




East of Scotland Water 
Authority 

  

4 

  
 

4 

  



North of Scotland Water 
Authority 

  

6 

  
 

6 

  



West of Scotland Water 
Authority 

  

6 

  
 

6 

  



NHS Bodies




Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Lothian Health Board 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Clinical Standards Board for Scotland 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Nationalised Industries 

  



Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd 

  

1 

  
 

1 

  



Tribunals




Children’s Panel (32) 

  

445 

  

500* 

  

945 

  



Rent Assessment Panel 

  
 

1 

  

1 

  



Totals 

  

487 

  

507 

  

994 

  



  * Approximate figure – exact number not available.

  Appointments between 6 May-1 July were made by the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Rural Affairs

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to provide support to the pig industry to meet the cost of new animal welfare requirements.

Ross Finnie: The 1991 ban on the use of stall and tether systems in the UK allowed 8 years for producers to implement the changes under their normal business arrangements.

  Pressure shall continue to be applied to the European Commission to come forward with its proposals for review of the 1991 Pig Directive to bring standards up to the level currently enjoyed by livestock here.

Scottish Executive

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the launch of Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government , whether it will clarify the roles of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Parliament in relation to the modernising and work of the Parliament.

Donald Dewar: As Making It Work Together: A Programme for Government explains, the Minister for Parliament is responsible for the management and monitoring of the Scottish Executive’s business in the Parliament. He is also concerned with the operations and procedures of the Parliament.

  The Minister for Finance is responsible for promoting modern and efficient government across the Scottish Executive. As with all members of the Scottish Executive, they work together on matters of mutual interest.

Sport

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the partnership which East Ayrshire Council has developed with Kilmarnock Football Club and individuals such as Scottish Internationalist Samantha Dalziel to promote women’s football and what plans it has to build upon such work to create equality of opportunity for women footballers in terms of provision of training and facilities.

Rhona Brankin: sportscotland has played a part in Kilmarnock Football Club’s positive attempts to establish links with women’s football. It has invested approximately £375,000 in women’s and girl’s football nationally as part of the Team Sport Scotland initiative. It is also currently investing £539,000 in a number of programmes to put the necessary infrastructure in place to provide greater opportunities for girls and women.

Transport

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many representations it has received over the last six years opposing the proposed funicular railway on Cairn Gorm or calling for a review and how many it has received in support of the development.

Sarah Boyack: Since this development proposal was first submitted to the Highland Council in 1994 the Scottish Office and Executive have received 10,654 letters of objection/representation and 203 expressions of support.